After 4 rounds...

[mattys123]

And I'll post it here too for the sake of it.

Richmond are ninth;

 

[Maggie5]

Yeah but look at the bottom ten!

The most consistent thing about the ladder is that Richmond is still 9th.

 

[Maggie5]

Richmond are ninth;

You just beat me!

 

[Mkcaptain]

What I loved about the first four weeks is that it has shown we're not as rubbish as some were claiming we were. While we're going to have quite a few downs this year its good to know we can beat teams that we should be beating. The next step is to start beating the teams around us on the ladder, Essendon is a good start.

 

[Tbone McGraw]

The Carlton game is a massive game. We should win but i think we all know that Mick likes to make things about Mick.

He knows that they will do nothing this season, so this record game is his ultimate goal imho.

 

[Big Bryza]

Sack Bucks? Am I right?

 

[robertg22]

The best thing about it is that we're 3rd in the league for lowest points conceded, narrowly behind defensive teams like Sydney and Freo. This is a defense without Shaw, Maxwell, Reid, Keeffe, Lumumba and is very young. Very encouraging to see!

 

[ipswichpies]

I am just happy to be in the 8 atm and we deserve to be there,most people had the Cats and Suns in their 8 but that does not look likely.I see the Dogs and maybe even the Dees making big advances,Richmond and North still a little up and down and quite e few people had them top 4.I do think we are getting harder to beat and that is not to say we are good or that we have arrived because we have not but we are showing some ticker and that please,s me no end.I think we can arrived sooner than most people think,next season for certain but it could even be later this season.Think back to 2011 and nearly everyone thought we would win the flag but by the Lions match that season we were in trouble.2 weeks ago the Crows were a shoe in for top 4 as are Freo now but I can tell you if anyone gets a run of injuries they will struggle as we did last season.

Quite a few people had the Lions in their 8 also and they have as much chance as the Suns and old age has caught up with Cats so there will changes to the 8 but I like our chances better than some teams who were sure things.

Our team will not die wondering they are having a go and that can take you a long way sometimes,if it takes us to the cusp of the 8 well and good.
As I say they were 2 or 3 teams who were good things to make but at least 2 of them are no chance but the Dogs look good as do GWS.

 

[Big Bryza]

Some observations after 4 rounds:

We appear to be fitter, and running out games better. Yesterday was a very hard physical intense game, and I was fearful we'd stop in the last quarter. But far from it.

Buckley is improving as a game day coach. He outcoached Hird yesterday, and had us playing perfect wet weather footy.

The three talls up forward: I'm confused. Did it work yesterday, or not? Gault struggled. I also can't get a clear view on how White went. Plus we had multiple goal kickers, which is great.

We still need more Witts in the team.

3 talls works up forward as it allows Cloke more 1 v 1 contests. I just don't know how the set up will go with a resting ruckman in Witts compared to a mobile tall in Gault, even though Gaults not producing a lot himself. He is still playing an important role. Wittsy will obviously get a crack soon enough so if it does work then we become more dangerous up forward.

It's interesting because I think Grundy is in the Goldstein, Martin, Jacobs mould in that he just wants to ruck all day with very little assistance. He grinds away and is very good at ground level for a big man. Just needs to be a bit more careful when he gets possession after a mark. Tried to invent a few things yesterday. Overall though he has been fantastic this season. Will be the best ruckman in the game by 2017.

 

[bradrowe#32]

Good start to the season, especially beating Essendon.

Next six games will be telling - Carlton, Geelong, Gold Coast, North, Melbourne, Giants - all very winnable and very important for our finals chances as our fixture gets really tough after that.

 

[PieMan!]

Good start to the season, especially beating Essendon.

Next six games will be telling - Carlton, Geelong, Gold Coast, North, Melbourne, Giants - all very winnable and very important for our finals chances as our fixture gets really tough after that.

We should win of all them.

 

[Tbone McGraw]

We should win of all them.

I would take 4 from 6. Sets us up for second half of season.

 

[Markfs]

It's called "managing expectations"

I see this week as a week of consolidation where we overinflate where we're going to end up on the ladder....I would think that top 4 is probably the preferred position. That will give us an opportunity to shoot down the coach if we have a bad loss or two in the coming weeks...it's called gameplan...

 

[Swooper18]

Good start to the season, especially beating Essendon.

Next six games will be telling - Carlton, Geelong, Gold Coast, North, Melbourne, Giants - all very winnable and very important for our finals chances as our fixture gets really tough after that.

We have Richmond after Geelong.

 

[Vicky Park]

The best thing about it is that we're 3rd in the league for lowest points conceded, narrowly behind defensive teams like Sydney and Freo. This is a defense without Shaw, Maxwell, Reid, Keeffe, Lumumba and is very young. Very encouraging to see!

This deserves a wow! Have seen us three times now, and this confirms what we are seeing on the field. Our young defenders were fantastic in the first half of last year, before inexperience and injuries got to us. But they have picked up where they left off, added Ramsay and Oxley to the mix, with Frost and Langdon an extra year on, Williams playing better than last year, Brown back, and The Sack doing his bit too. Tooves wasn't bad yesterday either.

 

[robertg22]

This deserves a wow! Have seen us three times now, and this confirms what we are seeing on the field. Our young defenders were fantastic in the first half of last year, before inexperience and injuries got to us. But they have picked up where they left off, added Ramsay and Oxley to the mix, with Frost and Langdon an extra year on, Williams playing better than last year, Brown back, and The Sack doing his bit too. Tooves wasn't bad yesterday either.

Sure is great. I understand it's only a 4 game sample size (with games against two bottom 4 sides in St Kilda and Brisbane) but still, the unit is performing well. We're yet to concede 100 points too...did so 8 times last season. The next month or so will give us a really good indication of how far we can go this year. Finals? I think we're a huge chance.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Carltank up to 14th with a bullet. They must be so full of excitement. Time to shoot that down.

 

[jackcass]

If the dogs take enough percentage points off the crows to put the crows below us ...

... that might give the dogs enough percentage points to put the dogs above us.

Probably a moot point but

Dogs had to win by about 140+ points to go past us on the ladder, percentage prior to the Crows game was mid 80s.

 

[jackcass]

Gault for Dangerfield seems fair.

But Danger is FA so we don't have to trade, unless you're suggesting Gault off the list to free up a spot for Danger but even then with our dearth of KPP prospects I doubt Gault will be going anywhere.

 

[morelli89]

We're leading the league in contested possessions and are 3rd for tackles, there's a definite hardness about how our team are playing so far this year

 

[NotAMagpieBogan]

Good start to the season, especially beating Essendon.

Next six games will be telling - Carlton, Geelong, Gold Coast, North, Melbourne, Giants - all very winnable and very important for our finals chances as our fixture gets really tough after that.

North and Geelong will be hard, Melbourne and GWS definitely aren't certainties.

 

[jackcass]

The Carlton game is a massive game. We should win but i think we all know that Mick likes to make things about Mick.

He knows that they will do nothing this season, so this record game is his ultimate goal imho.

lol... 5 rounds in and Carlton are already playing their grand final...

 

[hellfire]

All matches up until the bye will pretty much make or break us this year. Every one is winnable. If we keep playing the way we have been we shouldn't drop more than 1-2 of them (North in particular we'll likely lose). We could go into the break at 9-2 or so and put ourselves into a position of being able to drop games to Hawthorn, Port, Sydney, Freo and even the Dogs (bad match up for us) in the second half of the year and we would still win 15 games and arguably make top 4.

I do not for one second think that we are a top 4 side (or even top 6 side for that matter), and chances are we will drop 4-5 games that we shouldn't given our inexperience. But it is interesting to see how attainable a 14-15 win season is for us with this draw if we take our chances and show some consistency (and luck with injuries).

With that said, I think we'll finish 7th-10th. Fingers crossed though.

 

[domin8tors]

I didn't realize being realistic and being excited were mutually exclusive

We will still struggle to make the 8 but I'm more optimistic and excited about our future now then I was at the start of the year.

struggle to make the 8 is interesting. we sit at 3-1 with game coming up against Carlton / Geelong / Richmond and GC. we should win 3 out of those 4. placing us 6 -2 with still hopefully Witts / Reid / Greenwood & Sidebottom coming back in. and who knows what Moore / Da Goey / Freeman and Shaz can bring . I personally would be shocked if we didn't finish 6-8 .

 

[domin8tors]

All matches up until the bye will pretty much make or break us this year. Every one is winnable. If we keep playing the way we have been we shouldn't drop more than 1-2 of them (North in particular we'll likely lose). We could go into the break at 9-2 or so and put ourselves into a position of being able to drop games to Hawthorn, Port, Sydney, Freo and even the Dogs (bad match up for us) in the second half of the year and we would still win 15 games and arguably make top 4.

I do not for one second think that we are a top 4 side (or even top 6 side for that matter), and chances are we will drop 4-5 games that we shouldn't given our inexperience. But it is interesting to see how attainable a 14-15 win season is for us with this draw if we take our chances and show some consistency (and luck with injuries).

With that said, I think we'll finish 7th-10th. Fingers crossed though.

I'm not sure why we couldn't aim for top 4. take the Essendon game for example. now take out arguably 4 dispensable players from that game. Gault / Ramsay / Oxley and Broomhead. and put in Reid / Sidebottom / Witts and Greenwood. we would still have 11 Premiership players playing and that's not including Mccaffer and Young " if you wanted to " throw in Elliott / Langdon / Adams / Grundy as genuine B / B+ players and that is the nucleus of a very good side. and who knows what Freeman Da Goey and Shaz will do.